1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication terminal, a wireless communication system, a wireless communication method, and a computer program product.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-048968, filed Mar. 6, 2012, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for a wireless communication terminal to participate in a network (infrastructure network) via an access point (hereinafter, “AP”), it has been necessary to set to the wireless communication terminal, various information (network setting information), such as a network ID (SSID), an authentication method, an encryption method, and an encryption key. For this setting, various inputs are necessary on the wireless communication terminal.
On the other hand, a set-up process of setting; network setting information to a wireless communication terminal without complicated manual inputs by a user has been performed. In the set-up process, the wireless communication terminal performs encrypted communication with another wireless communication terminal, and thus specifies a predetermined authentication method and a predetermined encryption method. After the set-up process, the wireless communication terminal participating in the wireless network authenticates the other wireless communication terminal by the predetermined authentication method, and performs encrypted communication with the authenticated other wireless communication terminal using the predetermined encryption method.
For a wireless communication terminal to participate in an infrastructure network by the above set-up process, Wi-Fi Protected Setup (Trade Mark) (hereinafter, “WPS”) is defined as a wireless LAN standard. Wi-Fi Simple Configuration Technical Specification 2.0.0 (https://www.wi-fi.org/knowledge_center_overview.php?type=4) discloses technology for WPS.
Several set-up methods are defined for WPS. For example, both a user of a wireless communication terminal with the wireless LAN function as a non-participant which wants to participate in the network, and a user of a wireless communication terminal as a participant in the network (primarily, AP) push an actual button, or click a button on screens using a GUI (graphical user interface) function, thereby performing a set-up process using unique value defined by the WPS. This unique value is used by both the wireless communication terminals as unique information for properly identifying a wireless communication terminal targeted for the set-up process. Hereinafter, this setting method is referred to as a “PBC method”. Different from this setting method, the wireless communication terminal as the non-participant generates a PIN code as an arbitrary value and displays the PIN code on a screen thereof. Then, that PIN code is input as the unique information to the wireless communication terminal as the participant (primarily, AP), thereby performing a set-up process. Hereinafter, this setting method is referred to as a “PIN method”.
By these set-up processes, it is possible to safely transmit the network setting information stored by the AP to the wireless communication terminal. After the network setting information is transmitted by the WPS, the wireless communication terminal can set thereto the received network setting information without the user doing time-consuming work, such as inputting an encryption key. Then, the wireless communication terminal performs an authentication process with the AP as needed, and thus can perform communication of encrypted data with the AP. When the PIN code is input to the AP, for example, a user may input the PIN code using a browser of another terminal in the network to which the AP belongs.
Different from the infrastructure mode necessitating the AP, an ad-hoc mode for wireless communication terminals to perform WLAN communication directly with one another has been recently becoming popular primarily among mobile terminals, such as game devices or cameras. In the ad-hoc mode, a central terminal, such as the AP in the infrastructure mode, is not present in the network. Instead, each terminal has an equal right to communicate with another terminal.
Similar to the infrastructure mode, setting of network setting information in the ad-hoc mode is complicated. It is preferable that the conventional WPS is compatible with, the ad-hoc network. In this case, a terminal that manages the network, such as the AP in the infrastructure mode, is not present in the ad-hoc mode. For this reason, in a case of the PBC method, a set-up process with a wireless communication terminal as a non-participant can be performed by a user of any wireless communication terminal as a participant pushing a button.
For the WPS, if a setting method differs between wireless communication terminals that perform wireless communication with each other, it is impossible to find an adequate wireless communication terminal targeted for the set-up process. To find a wireless communication terminal targeted for the set-up process under this situation, it is necessary for a user of at least one of the wireless communication terminals to change the setting method and perform the set-up process again.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-278536 discloses technology in which when an adequate target for the set-up process cannot be found, the set-up process is performed again while decreasing a load of a user.
in the above technology, in the PBC method, when no wireless communication terminal targeted for a set-up process is found, or when multiple wireless communication, terminals targeted for the set-up process are found, the wireless communication terminal, performs the set-up process again by the PBC method without a user instruction. Then, the wireless communication terminal repeats the set-up process by the PBC method until one adequate wireless communication terminal targeted for the set-up process is found.